Retreat Report

 Christine and I left early for our quilting retreat with the Oxford Guild this past Friday because there was a winter storm coming and we wanted to get there and be set up before the snow started to fall.  The snow started in the afternoon and kept going all night.  In the morning there was almost a foot of snow (30cm for the metric folks).  We were all snowed in and loving it.  We did not lose power and we had our sewing machines and lots of fabric and projects on hand to work on.  It was a great weekend!

First, I tackled my two rainbow scrap challenge projects for this year-- pineapple log cabin blocks and some 6.5" square slabs using scraps. I had not made February's pink blocks yet and the new colour for March had already been announced--green, so I had to make blocks for both months. 

The first attempt at the pink block did not go so well.  I had the colours in the wrong spot and the fabric folded when I tried to sew one of the logs down.  I had to unsew it and start again, with much better results the second time around. 

Here's the green one.  I like the dark gray background I am using for these blocks. (it was in my stash)

I made four pink blocks too but don't have a picture of them.  

The food at the retreat was delicious--I had a Reuben sandwich and a salad for lunch one day. (no sauerkraut!) 

Here is a picture of a car in the parking lot outside the room where we were sewing on Saturday morning.  

I brought two pin basted quilt sandwiches with me to the retreat as well as a third quilt top with the batting and backing fabric.  I managed to completely finish quilting one of the tops. I made a wavy diagonal grid for this one--quilted with my walking foot.  I added the binding by machine today and I'm in the process of hand sewing it down on the back of the quilt.  This was my rainbow scrap challenge project in 2021. 

This scrappy drunkard's path was a 2022 RSC project.  I got most of the quilting done at the retreat and decided to quilt the circles at home on my other sewing machine.  It has a bigger throat so its easier to turn the quilt when sewing the circles.  Once the quilting is done, I will add the binding and get this one to the finish line too. 

When I was at QuiltCon in Atlanta, one of the vendors was demonstrating how to make rope bowls and selling an instruction book on how to make several different projects with rope.  I have wanted to try making things with rope for a while now so I watched the demo and asked a few questions. At the retreat, I tried making a bowl, and then another and then more until I had five finished bowls.  They are quite small and fun to make.  I recommend this book if you are interested in trying your hand at making rope bowls. 

I added some more stitches to my cross stitch project at the retreat too.  

My final project at the retreat was putting my vice president's day challenge quilt together.  I had made the square blocks a few weeks ago and needed to make some more black and white units and sew everything together.  

Mission accomplished!

Finn spent the weekend with my husband at home.  He was very excited when I arrived home on Sunday and has been keeping a close eye on me today. 

I will link up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday.